Real
by richard the pedantic
Summary: The Matrix is not what it appears to be, as one man is to discover. (Complete) Chapter 1 reposted so that Silas' name isn't overused
1. the dream

REALITY  
  
___________  
  
By Richard Paul  
  
Assorted Disclaimer Hoo-Hah: I don't own the Matrix nor any characters, props, costumes nor any of Cypher's beard, never have done, and never will. The Wachowski (I think that's how you spell it), brothers do. So on and so forth.  
  
P.S: IF I've ripped off someone else's idea I am truly sorry. I don't think I have though.  
  
P.P.S: WWW.Wishvale.org and "!" magazine don't exist.  
  
This is my first fan fiction, please read it and then submit your praise/critism/insults/suggestions/misc. (Delete as applicable)   
  
Chapter 1: The dream  
  
"Shit, it's cold."  
  
Silas Cavallo walked down the darkened street with his hands hidden underneath his upper arms. Turning his head back, he saw that many of the other faces that had emerged from the cinema had disappeared; then an icy breeze brought his attention back to himself.  
  
Soon enough he reached his car and hurriedly climbed inside. The car provided cover from the wind, but it was still cold. As the engine started, vague images about the film he had just seen entered his mind. First there were the sentinels that poured by the thousands through the hole in Zion's ceiling, then there was Persephone and the fact that she only had one line. Trinity with numerous rods piercing her torso, and Neo, laid out on the floor of the zero-one like a museum piece.   
  
Silas always tried to block out such images whilst he was driving. The last time he allowed himself to drift off into fantasy whilst he was driving almost resulted in him driving into a ditch. He had limited success this time however. Images of APU's and the Hammer kept enticing him to drift into memory, usually when traffic lights were nearby. After almost 45 minutes driving, he found himself back at his house.  
  
Wearily, he pushed open his living room door and stumbled to the nearest chair. It was still cold. Casting a gaze to the clock on his VCR, Silas saw that it was only 8:15PM.  
  
After drinking a disturbingly hot cup of coffee, Silas watched as his computer came to life once more with a series of whirs and the occasional click.   
  
The internet was the same as it always was. He flicked through a series of web sites which had at one time amused, now only served to provide a series second long diversions. After this was complete, he began typing random words into a search engine in the hopes of finding something interesting.  
  
Half an hour passed, Silas was flicking down a list of things to do in case of a forest fire which he had found at WWW.Wishvale.org. In the background, music from the radio was drowned out against the sudden rain that had begun to strike the window next to him. He was about to reach for the remote to increase the volume when he heard the phone next to his computer ring.  
  
'Weird', thought Silas as he checked to see if the Internet had spontaneously kicked him offline as it had been known to do. The phone should ring whilst he was online, and, as the icon in the bottom right hand corner of the desktop showed, he was undoubtedly online.  
  
"Problem with the phone lines or something." He muttered to himself as he reached for the phone.  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Get away from the window, now!" The voice on the other end of the line was male, Silas wasn't sure but it sounded vaguely familiar, however, his mind soon focused on the man's hastily uttered command.  
  
"What the Hell are you talking…?"  
  
"We don't have for time; just get away from the window!"  
  
The man's last word was drowned out by the sound of a motorbike, which was steadily becoming louder. Turning his head, Silas saw something he knew should be impossible. A figure in a crash helmet was seconds away from smashing a motorcycle straight through his second story window.  
  
He stood motionless for a second, too stunned to respond to this insane situation. When he had sufficiently recovered from the shock however, he threw himself away from the window, landing on the floor with a loud thud.  
  
Barely a second after, the motorbike came crashing through the window, the vehicle's former occupant, who Silas could identify was female, pushed herself free of the bike and bounced off of the wall in front of her as she struck it.  
  
The bike crashed through the floor and creating a deafening noise as it did so. Silas barely noticed it however; he was transfixed on the figure that had invaded his study.  
  
The woman threw her crash helmet to floor and charged out of the door. Silas remained motionless; thoughts were trying to reveal themselves within his head, but were drowned out by fear, confusion and shock.  
  
Trinity?  
  
A second figure smashed through what remained of the window. On seeing it, Silas' heart stopped.  
  
The person in front of him was tall, male and had short brown hair. The man wore sunglasses, and a suit which was all black, with the exception of the white shirt which revealed the presence of a black tie. There was a gun in the man's right hand.  
  
For the few seconds, the man simply stared at him with a contemptuous glare, occasionally turning his head to examine his gun. Thoughts were beginning to appear and disappear in Silas' head. The words helped distract him from the fear, barely, nevertheless, Silas found himself clinging to whatever comforts he could find.  
  
This isn't real… This can't be real… This doesn't happen… Who was that …? This can't…? An Agent? No, it can't be, it can't, The Matrix isn't real! It's a trilogy!   
  
Awake.  
  
Silas shot out of his living room chair as if he'd just been pushed out of it. He was barely able to stop himself from falling on the floor.  
  
He stood still, staring at his surroundings and searching for wreckage, when he found none, more thoughts entered his head.  
  
A dream, no, it was too real to be a dream, but, that, that couldn't have happened, could it?  
  
Silas hurriedly walked out of the living room and up the stairs to the study. The window was undamaged, there were no large holes in the floor, and computer was switched off. He looked at the clock, 7:12AM.   
  
'It had to have been a dream, there's no other explanation, you fell asleep on the chair Silas, and then you dreamt.'  
  
This was the most rational explanation, but at the same time, it was almost impossible to believe. In all his years, Silas had never once had a dream so lifelike. Usually his dreams consisted of crude figures standing before a vague background talking about work. What he had apparently just wakened from was as close to lifelike as he had ever experienced. He felt, tasted, heard, smelt, and saw everything around him last night with almost perfect clarity.  
  
The more Silas thought about it, the more he decided it had to be a dream. It was the only explanation which made any sense, and he vaguely remembered someone from his past talking about how dreams could seem very real.  
  
In any case, as he cast another glance towards the clock, he realised that he had more important things to worry about. He couldn't afford to be late for work again, and time was proceeding at an awkwardly fast pace.  
  
Half an hour later, Silas was shaved, showered, breakfasted, dressed and ready to wander out of his house for another day of toiling for the furtherance of '!' magazine. He sighed at the depressing thought, he hated his work, the only reason he stuck with it was because he needed the money.  
  
Seconds before Silas stepped through the door, the phone rang again, and he felt a momentary flash of panic and then scolded himself for it.  
  
"It was just a dream." He told himself once more as he picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello." He said.  
  
"Hello Silas."  
  
His heart skipped a beat; it was the same voice, the same one that had warned him to get away from the window in his dream. There was no mistaking it. The voice still sounded familiar, but Silas couldn't put his finger on where he had heard it before.  
  
"Who is this?" He asked, forcing his voice to sound more calm then he felt.  
  
"Again I'm afraid there's no time. This line is being traced. Listen to me very carefully. It wasn't a dream, what you experienced last night was as real as what you're experiencing now. You know the truth now. You're mind is probably trying to deny it, but sooner or later, the truth will overrun your mind, and you will be unable to live in this place."  
  
"What the-" Silas coughed and fell silent, he was having just as much trouble accepting this lunatic situation as he did his 'dream' last night, if that was what it was.  
  
'What the Hell is going on?' He thought to himself.  
  
"I am out of time, go about your daily business Silas, and try to stay calm, one of us will contact you soon. Be careful though. The Agents will undoubtedly be watching you."  
  
With that, the line went dead. For a few seconds, Silas stood motionless, his mind trying to make sense of yet another impossible situation.   
  
It took him ten minutes to put down the phone and get to the door which was only five feet away.  
  
To Be Conrinued,or will it? Should i continue or shouldn't I? 


	2. tension

Before I start, I think a few thanks, and a few explanations are in order:  
  
I'd like to thank all the people who reviewed chapter one. You'll be pleased to hear that I have not used the word 'Silas' so much in this chapter, I think.  
  
Also, some of you may have realised that chapter one said that the fan-fic was called "Reality". This was the original name, which I changed when I realised that two other fan-fics also had the same name.  
  
Finally, about the summary, the name of the document which contained chapter one had some obscure name like "Pvarthwalb", or something equally foolish, hence I thought that was going to be the title. Oh well, enough of this,  
  
___________________________________________________________________________  
  
Real, Chapter 2: Tension  
  
Silas found it impossible to concentrate on his work; it was like being back at school on the day before the Christmas holidays started, only worse. In spite of everything that had happened, the situation still seemed impossible to believe. The Matrix was real. The Matrix, a highly successful trilogy that had inspired him to buy an oversized leather coat was actually real.  
  
"Are you alright?" Silas looked up from his desk to see the face of his friend Susan Trenis staring at him with a touching look of concern.  
  
"Yeah," he began after a few seconds, "yeah, I'm just not feeling too great today, bowel problems or something."  
  
A small smile appeared on his face as he watched Susan wince at the mention of Bowles.  
  
"Why'd you come in to work then?" She asked.  
  
"Well you know what my attendance record is like. If I miss one more day or if I come in late again then I'll be lucky if I don't get hurled out of a window."  
  
Silas began to feel slightly better as he saw Susan laugh. This was short lived though as his overactive mind fund itself constructing an image of Susan lying motionless in a tank with numerous tubes sticking into her skin, like himself, just two among billions.  
  
An icy chill went through Silas and looking down he noticed just how pale his skin was beginning to look. At the same time, his stomach was telling him just how queasy he was beginning to feel.  
  
"Speak of the devil" he said, rising to his feet.  
  
"Oh," Susan said, "I'll leave you to your devices then, feel better."   
  
"Thanks."  
  
Silas pushed through the toilet door and walked about aimlessly for a few moments.  
  
"Come on, Come on" he began to whisper, even though there was no one around to hear him. The tension was close to unbearable, as were the questions which, despite his greatest efforts he could not banish from his mind. The most troubling was whether or not he was prepared to leave everything behind and help humans, (who until yesterday had been nothing more then entertaining, fictitious characters), fight a war against thousands of intelligent machines.  
  
Silas took several heavy breaths and began to walk towards a nearby urinal. Hearing the door open to his left however he turned his head and felt another, colder chill go through him.  
  
"Cypher?" The word barely emerged from Silas' quivering mouth.  
  
"Yep, it's me pal, we should probably get moving."  
  
Silas stood still for a few moments. Part of him was worried about slipping away from work. This was quickly silenced however by more sensible voices which reassured him that it didn't matter.  
  
The strongest fear was whether or not he could trust this guy? Cypher's actions in the first movie were hard to forget.  
  
Fairly soon it really didn't matter. Cypher sighed heavily and grabbed Silas' sleeve.  
  
"Listen," he said, "I know what you're thinking. How can you trust the traitorous shit that is me right? Well I sincerely doubt that I can get you to trust me any time soon so let me just say this, I'm not the Cypher you saw in the movie, you can take your chances with me, or you can wait for an Agent to show up and take your chances with him, and believe me pal, one's coming."   
  
Silas nodded, still not sure if he trusted the man in front of him but nonetheless he began to follow Cypher towards the door.  
  
"Just act natural," Cypher said casually, "no one's gonna give us a second look if we don't draw attention to ourselves."  
  
"Got it." Silas stuttered quietly.  
  
It was an unbelievably sunny day, especially for February, yet it was windy, and strands of eerily long brown hair that had somehow escaped Silas' ponytail were constantly getting in his eyes. Cypher was as expressionless as a blank piece of paper.  
  
Things were starting to look better, the tension was still there, but not to the extent that it changed his skin pigmentation, and despite his shady reputation, Silas found that having Cypher nearby was very comforting.  
  
"Get down!"  
  
Before the last word had been finished, Silas found himself being pushed to the floor. He remained motionless for a few seconds, listening to the sounds of gunfire and the screams of pedestrians. Turning his head, he saw what had caused the outburst. Despite all he had tried to prepare himself for, seeing an agent dodge bullets at the speed at which this one was dodging Cypher's was breathtaking. Despite his fear, Silas couldn't help but feel impressed.  
  
"Shit! Get up Silas, we've gotta move!"  
  
Instantly dragging himself to his feet, Silas ran as fast as he could in an attempt to keep Cypher in view. It was not easy, especially not with the bullets from the agent's firearm ricocheting off of walls, which were disturbingly close to him.  
  
Somehow he managed however. Cypher occasionally turned his head to make sure that his travelling companion was still with him. Unfortunately, the agent proved equally hard to loose.  
  
As the two came to a busy road, Cypher came to an abrupt stop. Silas instinctively stopped beside him, wondering at once what he was doing. He wanted more then anything to keep running. Something deep within him stopped him from doing so however.  
  
Soon enough, both heads turned at the sound of a screeching, black car speeding round the corner at a ludicrously high speed. It came roaring down the road towards Silas and Cypher before stopping right beside them.  
  
A rolled-down window revealed none other then Trinity,  
  
"Get in!" She said calmly. Cypher flung himself into the back, followed instantly by Silas, who then turned his head to see the agent appear around the corner he had just taken.  
  
"Go!" Screamed Cypher and Silas in unison.  
  
The gunshots the agent fired missed the car by millimetres. When he was out of sight, Silas breathed a huge sigh of relief and sank into his chair.  
  
"Thank you." He said to no one in particular.  
  
"You're welcome" said Trinity in the same tone of voice as she had before.  
  
Silas sank deeper into his chair; the relief was almost as overpowering as the tension had been earlier. A pestiferous thought reminded him however that e was not out of the woods yet.  
  
After almost quarter of an hour, the car came to a stop outside of a nondescript, almost dilapidated looking building.  
  
"We're here" chortled Cypher.  
  
Silas inhaled deeply and stepped out of the car. The air was colder then it had been before, but the wind had died down.  
  
"Follow me" Trinity said quietly.  
  
The building looked worse on the inside then it had from the outside. Peeled wallpaper and pieces of the ceiling littered the floor, and the stairs looked older then the local church.  
  
Eventually, the three came to a door which was at the end of a needlessly long corridor. Trinity overtook the others and rested her hand on the door handle.  
  
"Remember, some of the things you saw in the movies are the same, but a lot is very different."  
  
Silas nodded and watched as the door flew open to reveal three more people in aged leather chairs. One of the faces Silas didn't recognise. The other two however were clearly identifiable as Morpheus and Neo.  
  
"Welcome Silas." Boomed Morpheus in a tone of voice that could almost be described as 'amused'. Neo and the third figure simply nodded in acknowledgement of his presence.  
  
Silas wasn't sure whether to walk forward, say something, or just do nothing. The solution was provided by Morpheus who offered his hand. Silas shook it before taking the seat Morpheus gestured at.  
  
"You undoubtedly have numerous questions; however, like your arrival here has probably shown you, we do not much time. Hence we must proceed to the final choice."  
  
Morpheus reached into his pocket and produced a small box, when he opened it, Silas felt yet anther icy chill, as a blue and a red pill lay before him.  
  
"I don't need to tell you what each pill does. And I'm sure you have a fairly good idea about what you are getting yourself into. So I leave it to you."  
  
Morpheus laid the box on the table in front of him and sat back. All eyes were focused on Silas, but he barely noticed them. The questions had returned; questions like 'Is it worth leaving it all behind?'  
  
Random voices circled in his mind, trying to push the argument one way or another. But fairly soon, Silas barely noticed them too, he already knew which pill he was going to take.   
  
Reaching forward, he took the red pill, placed it in his mouth, picked up the glass of water and swallowed the pill. He half expected Morpheus to crack a grin as he had done in the first film, but he simply nodded his head slowly.  
  
"Come with me."  
  
The layout of the room was exactly the same as it was in the first movie, except that there was no mirror next to the seat that he had been led to.  
  
Assorted people either sat themselves behind computers or walked up beside Silas' chair.  
  
"Tell me something Neo," Silas began, trying to sound calmer then he felt, "Is what was in the movie what it's really like when you get to the real world?"  
  
"Afraid so pal," said Cypher before Neo could speak, "just remember to breathe."   
  
Silas' response to this news was slightly better then he had expected it to be. However he soon found out that he didn't have time to dwell on this thought.   
  
"Are you ready?" Asked Morpheus.  
  
"Yes."  
  
To be continued. 


	3. trial by fire

Thank you again, all ye who have reviewed my work so far.  
  
Chapter 3: Trial by fire  
  
It had been fifteen hours since Silas had been un-plugged. It was cold, and the flimsy, hole ridden garments which Morpheus had given him were not doing much to change this situation. Consequently, he found himself unable to sleep.  
  
A red haired woman who was presumably the ships medic had told him to get as much rest as possible. At first the words were metaphorical music to Silas' ears. But after seven hours, a loud thumping noise from a nearby pipe had woken him, and he was too rested and alert to ignore the cold.  
  
Looking around his small, featureless cabin, Silas found himself remembering things and people from life which a pestiferous thought in the back of his mind told him were gone forever.  
  
At first he had thought about family, friends, well wishers, colleagues, everyone who he had left behind. Only the thought that they would one day be re-united (and that until then they would live comfortably enough,) stopped him from breaking down in a flood of tears.  
  
After this, Silas had begun to reminisce about less important things such as work, taxes, food, warmth and so on. None of these things mattered to him any more. What lay before him was war, and with war came hardship, and loss.  
  
Deciding that he was unlikely to get any more sleep then he had done. Silas opened his cabin door and walked forth into the unknown corridor in front of him. It was cold there too.  
  
Silas hadn't a clue where he was going; he could barely see a thing when he was lead to his room. Deciding that the various corners must lead somewhere however, he walked on.  
  
Eventually, the narrow passageway opened onto a catwalk which overlooked a huge chamber. Silas rested his hands on the safety rail in front of him and peered over the edge.  
  
There were several computers, all showing green coding. To the person staring at them, whom Silas identified as Link, it probably made perfect sense, but to him, it was incomprehensible gibberish.  
  
Rubbing a hand over his head once again, Silas sighed as he felt the smooth surface. It had taken him months to grow his hair long. Now he realised he must start again.  
  
The numerous plugs in his skin were also disturbing. In the movie he'd thought that they looked cool. Now that he had some of his own, they looked more disturbing then cool.  
  
"You probably shouldn't be walking about just now."  
  
"And you definitely should avoid places like this which can lead to nasty falls. I thought I told you to sleep."  
  
Silas looked over his shoulder to see three people staring at him, one was Morpheus, and another was the medic he had met shortly after his arrival, the third person, a tall, man with long black hair was unknown to Silas.  
  
"I think I've had as much sleep as I'm going to for now, uh, sorry I can't remember your name."  
  
"That's because I never told it to you." A small grin emerged on the woman's face, "call me Gemini."  
  
Silas shook the hand that Gemini had offered him, shortly after this, Morpheus began to speak.   
  
"If you cannot sleep then perhaps we should take this time to answer some of the questions you may have."  
  
"Thank you that would be helpful."  
  
Morpheus gestured for the others to follow him to a nearby staircase. On the way, Silas again noticed the third, presently anonymous figure.  
  
"I don't think we've been introduced either" he said.  
  
"Call me Necromancer" said the man whose eyes never moved from in front of him.  
  
There were a series of curves in the piping on the ground floor which the four were using as makeshift chairs. Before Silas had even sat down, Morpheus had begun to speak.  
  
"You know that the Matrix is real, what you may be trying to figure out is why it is also a trilogy, correct?"  
  
Silas nodded, he had not had much time to dwell on this subject, however a few possibilities had sprung to mind.  
  
"My guess is that it makes the whole idea of people living in a simulation unbelievable. It's hard to perceive something is true if you believe it's a work of fiction."  
  
"Precisely," said Morpheus, "since the trilogy began, the number of minds we have been able to free has come, almost, to a grinding halt."  
  
Silas nodded again. Needless to say, this would hinder humanities' war effort no end. Without un-plugged people, there would be no one who could enter the Matrix. All the machines had to do was wait for those who were already un-plugged to die off.  
  
"How much of the movie is true?"  
  
Necromancer's lifted his head from the floor and started to speak before Morpheus had a chance to. If this had irritated Morpheus, it didn't show.  
  
"There is a Zion, we're at war with the machines, humanity blocked out the sun, Neo is the one, there is an oracle, but there isn't a prophecy. You'll be pleased to hear that the machines don't yet know where Zion is."  
  
"Who started the war?"  
  
"That we don't know," said Gemini whilst staring at something on the ceiling that had obviously caught her interest.  
  
Before Silas could say anything else however, all heads turned to a flashing red light near the operator. Alarms sounded from all over the ship and Silas instinctively stood up. He was fairly sure he knew what this meant, and he hoped that he was wrong.  
  
"Oh shit!" Shouted Link from the other side of the room.  
  
"What is it Link? Sentinels?" Shouted Morpheus, who had also stood up.  
  
"No sir, it's a Behemoth!"  
  
"A what?" Silas shouted over the noise of the alarms.  
  
"Silas, sit there", Morpheus was pointing to a chair near to Link, "Link, give him a crash course in gunnery, Behemoths and the ship's layout. When you're done Silas, join us in gunnery control. Everybody else, move!"  
  
Whilst Morpheus was speaking, Link grabbed Silas' arm, dragged him to one of the chairs and inserted a long spike into the plug in the back of Silas' head after he had sat down.  
  
"Get ready", he said.  
  
Link tapped some keys and a flood of information shot through the wires beneath the floor and straight into Silas' brain. It was a weird sensation, like a cross between a headache and joy.  
  
And then it was gone. Silas now knew the layout of the ship, how to use the onboard cannons, and what a Behemoth was.  
  
After Link pulled the spike out of Silas' head, Silas instantly charged out of the room and down one of the corridors which the others had run through only seconds before.  
  
Silas soon found himself in a small room filled with chairs and most of the crew, both of which were arranged in an outward facing circle. Finding an empty chair, he instantly moved towards it, sat down and attached the harness.  
  
Staring at the HUD. He saw what was following the Nebuchadnezzar, or whatever the ship was called.  
  
The Behemoth looked almost ten feet long. It looked was like a huge tube of tendrils and claws. It had the same 'eyes' as a sentinel, and it was also much faster then the ship he was in.  
  
"Two minutes till impact."  
  
As Silas opened fire, a thought surfaced in his head. If the Behemoth caught up to them. It would smash straight through the ship as if it were a wet piece of paper.  
  
The crew's fire ricocheted off of one of the Behemoth's 'eyes'. The machine seemed unphased by all of this. Silas couldn't find anything in his new found knowledge about whether or not a crew had survived an attack by a Behemoth, or how to kill them.  
  
The ship turned a corner, followed shortly by the Behemoth. The machine smashed through the obstacles in its path as if they weren't there. The ease with which it did so made the mechanical creature seem unstoppable.  
  
Silas kept firing; it was all he could do. The creature still seemed un-damaged by the ships gunfire, and it still came closer to the ship. As he fired, a sense of calm and clarity seemed to emerge inside of Silas, which lead him to believe that these were the final moments before his death.  
  
But as he thought this, something changed. The eye which the crew has been firing at smashed into a shower of tiny splinters. The gunshots then wreaked havoc with the machine's innards.  
  
The Behemoth slowed, sparks fizzed from the damaged eye and the creature fell to the floor with a thud that made the deck of the ship shake.  
  
A huge cheer went up inside of the gunnery control room. Silas again found himself collapsing into his chair. As he removed the harness, he felt someone clap his on the shoulder.  
  
"Not bad for your first day." Silas looked up to see Neo grinning at him.  
  
"Thanks, by the way, why didn't you just stick your hand out and torch that thing?"  
  
"I can't do that, not here." Neo replied, his voice dropping slightly.  
  
"What about an E.M.P? We've got one of those right?"  
  
"Yeah, but firing an E.M.P takes out every system on board, and sentinels are usually never far from a Behemoth, they could easily waltz in and kill us all."  
  
"Ah."   
  
Silas found himself receiving the congratulations of all those present. He found it hard not to feel like the hero of the hour, despite the fact it was a team effort. To combat the risk of appearing pompous, he was generous in his praise of the others as well.  
  
Later that day, Silas once again found himself wandering, the ship, which he had learned was actually called the Nebuchadnezzar, was most likely heading for Zion so as to drop him off. If Zion was anything like the one in the movies. Silas was certain that he would not be bored for a while, or cold with any luck.  
  
He ran into Morpheus in the mess hall. Sitting with him was a male who looked no older then 17.  
  
"Silas," Morpheus said, "allow me to introduce the final member of my crew; this is my son, Orion."  
  
"Nice to meet you." Said Orion with a blank expression on his face.  
  
"Likewise"  
  
"Whilst you're here Silas there is something we need to discuss, please take a seat."  
  
Morpheus nodded to Orion who took his cue and left. Silas took his place shortly afterwards.  
  
"Today you showed us that you are calm under pressure and a competent soldier."  
  
"Thank you," Stuttered Silas, who was unprepared for this spontaneous complement, "I think I'm starting to get used to it."  
  
"For the last month we have been one crewman short, I've been reading through potential crew member résumés, but as you know, there are getting to be fewer and fewer un-plugged humans left, and none of the candidates I've seen have any experience on board a ship except for an uneventful trip to Zion. Due mainly to your actions today, I am offering the position to you."  
  
Silas said nothing for a few moments, an involuntary look of surprise crept onto his face. Like with the two pills however, he soon knew exactly what he was going to do.  
  
"Thank you sir, you won't be disappointed."  
  
"I hope not. Now get some rest Silas, your training starts tomorrow."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
With excitement and anticipation brewing within him, Silas stood up and walked out of the door.  
  
To be continued 


	4. eye of the storm

Thank you again for all of the assorted reviews, (Well actually there was only one new one the last time I checked but that might have changed by now. Actually, now that I think about it there may have been two. Oh well, who cares? Thank you Sxith-mon and Angel of Lightness and whoever else may have reviewed my work at such a time that I wouldn't notice.)   
  
Real Chapter 4: Eye of the Storm  
  
Silas sat in the mess hall cradling his head in his hands in an unsuccessful attempt to hold back the pain.  
  
"I told you that having too much data shoved in your cranium at once could lead to headaches." Gemini Said with traces of humour in her voice.  
  
"This is not a headache," groaned Silas as he lifted his head up fractionally so that he could make out the lower half of Gemini's face, "this is like I've been beaten senseless with a knife, blunt end and sharp."  
  
Gemini laughed as she stared absently at her food falling from her spoon back into the rectangular dish below.  
  
"So, I take it you haven't tried any of your new fighting abilities yet." Part of Gemini's mind was telling her that she could have thought of something better then that to say, this was confirmed a moment later by Silas'  
  
"What do you think?" The words came out harsher then Silas had intended. Pushing the pain back as far as he could he raised his head so that he could see all of Gemini's face, he began to speak again.  
  
"Sorry, fucking hell, don't we have any painkillers on board or anything?"  
  
"We did, but we ran out when Necromancer got shot in the leg last week."  
  
"Necromancer got shot?"  
  
"Yeah, didn't you notice his…"  
  
Gemini stopped speaking and turned her head as the door to her right creaked open. The sudden loud noise resulted in another sharp sensation in Silas' skull.  
  
Turning his head, he saw that Link, Trinity and Neo had entered the room.  
  
"Evening", he muttered, his head still buried in his hands.  
  
"Evening?" Said Trinity "Try morning."  
  
"Morning? How long have I been here?"  
  
"About fifteen minutes" replied Gemini "you spent about eight hours in that chair."  
  
Trinity and Link took seats on Gemini's side of the table. Silas dropped his head once again so that he was staring directly at the table.  
  
"Ah the post-download headache for over-achievers" chortled Link "you know most people ride this out in the construct."  
  
"Most people do what now?"  
  
"Come with me" Link sighed.  
  
Silas tried to ignore the pain as he, Link and Gemini who was for some reason following him walked through assorted corridors which lead to the room with the pain causing 'operator's station' and the dubious looking seats. On the far side of the room he found Cypher staring at some wiring on the floor. The look on his face was one of exasperation. As if he had been trying to teach it algebra and was frustrated by his lack of success.  
  
As Silas took one of the seats, regardless of the fact it was here he received his migraine in the first place. The corner of his eye made out Link taking his seat in the operator's chair and fiddle with a few indistinguishable keys at a ludicrously fast speed.  
  
"When you're in the construct, or the matrix you don't feel pain which you feel in the real world. Ergo, you can stay in there whilst your head recovers."  
  
"Sounds good" Silas muttered through fresh pain caused by a large spike entering the plug in the back of his head.  
  
For a few moments, nothing happened, and then all of a sudden, the room went completely white.  
  
Looking down at himself, Silas found that he was dressed in a long black leather coat that was an exact replica of his old one. Underneath it was a black jumper, trousers and shoes.  
  
Running a hand across his head, he noticed that his hair was back, and that there were no plugs in his skin. For a brief moment Silas thought about what Morpheus had said during the first film about "Residual Self Image". This thought was quickly replaced by the fact that for whatever reason, his headache was suddenly gone.  
  
"Impressive isn't it?" Silas looked over his shoulder to see that Gemini, Cypher and Necromancer had joined him.  
  
"That it is" said Silas whilst taking his fingers out of his hair. Looking around him, he could see that wherever he was had no walls, no ceiling and no floor. The experience was almost disorienting.  
  
"Link," said Necromancer loudly, "give us the list of training programs."  
  
For a few moments, nothing happened. Then Silas heard a noise behind him that sounded like a train at full speed. Turning his head, he saw a blurry grey mass charge straight at him.  
  
Instinctively, Silas raised his hands to his chest to defend himself against the charging object before him. The object stopped roughly a meter away from him however, and he lowered his hands as he heard the sniggers of the others.  
  
The four walked up the object that resembled a slightly futuristic computer. Cypher stood in front of the device and pressed a few seemingly random buttons.  
  
"Take your pick"  
  
Silas walked to the place where Cypher had been standing and stared at the screen before him. There was a seemingly endless supply of training programs for him to choose from. After a few minutes, and some impatient mutterings from Cypher, he chose one entitled "cityscape".  
  
The endless white around him vanished and was replaced by the image of a busy city centre in the time it took to blink. There was no one around except for those in the cars that were speeding by in front of him. Cypher, Necromancer and Gemini had also vanished.  
  
Checking himself, Silas noticed that he was now equipped with a gun of some description, as well as a phone.  
  
Silas' mind clicked in sudden understanding of the situation, he drew his gun from its holster and began to edge out of the alley he was in.  
  
No sooner had he poked his head around the corner of a wall then he found Necromancer on the far side of the street. On noticing Silas, he instantly raised his gun and fired.  
  
Silas shot forward, firing blindly in Necromancers direction but hitting nothing except for a shop window and a road sign.  
  
Behind him, Silas found that Gemini was also taking pot shots at him. Taking cover behind a parked car, Silas returned fire.  
  
Again he hit nothing, however the bullets were enough to get Gemini moving. Turning to his right, Silas started firing at Necromancer who had been trying to get to a good position.  
  
Necromancer took cover behind another parked car. Silas watched the space for a few moments whilst considering his options. Before he could do anything else however, he saw Necromancer take off into the sky with an almighty leap and disappear from view.  
  
"Neat."  
  
Gemini had disappeared to some unknown place, and Silas came to the conclusion that hiding wasn't going to get him anywhere. Lifting himself off of the floor, he began to move down the street whilst standing close to the walls on his left.  
  
After another few minutes, Silas learned, via more gunshots, that Trinity had decided to join in the game. Silas had nowhere to hide this time however, and instantly began shooting at Trinity, again with limited success.  
  
He was taken out of the game by a shot from Trinity, which split his digital head in two. After a few moments, Silas found himself flying down a dark tunnel with a bright light at the end.  
  
"Very original" shouted Silas over the programmed music from what he could only assume was a harp.  
  
When he hit the light, Silas found himself in what looked like a disturbingly small waiting room. There were no windows, only seats, seated in one was Cypher.  
  
"You too huh?"  
  
"So it would seem", Silas replied looking around him.  
  
"Yeah, Necromancer shot me in the first ten seconds the lucky bastard."  
  
Silas nodded and took one of the empty seats.  
  
"So," he began, "whose idea was the light at the end of the tunnel thing?"  
  
"Link's"  
  
"Oh," Silas paused and stared down at the floor for a few moments, "listen I, I never really thanked you for all that back in the Matrix."  
  
"Don't mention it" Cypher made a dismissive hand gesture that looked more like he was waving at the wall.  
  
"Also, I should probably apologize, I didn't think I could trust you at first, what with everything that happened in the first movie."  
  
Cypher sat up straighter and turned his head towards Silas.  
  
"You know, it's the same thing every time. Everyone instantly thinks that I'm this traitorous piece of shit who wants to sell humanity out the machines."  
  
"Sorry" Silas uttered quietly.  
  
"It's O.K, it's just that, I don't know. Even though it's only a movie, it's not easy to see yourself do those things. It's even harder to have people emerging from the matrix and instantly judging me based on a fucking movie."   
  
Silas nodded, considering this for a few moments. His thought processes were interrupted though when the walls around him vanished. Leaving only the endless white.  
  
"This doesn't look good." Said Cypher.  
  
Silas instantly found himself back in the chair onboard the Nebuchadnezzar. Looking around him, he found that the whole crew with the exception of himself, and Cypher, who was removing the spike from his head, were gathered around Morpheus and Neo.  
  
Silas walked over to the others, the pain returning n his cranium and received a few presence-acknowledging nods.  
  
"What's going on?" He asked.  
  
"We've been recalled to Zion," said Neo "they didn't say why."  
  
Looks of fear were creeping onto the faces of those around Silas.  
  
"Ships never get recalled without a damn good reason" Gemini whispered, "what's going on?"  
  
"How should I know?" Silas whispered back, "I'm guessing it's not good though." 


	5. insanity

Assorted thank yous and so forth to those who have reviewed my work.  
  
P.S. In response to your question Naz, I believe that your Big foot sighting was nothing more then a hallucination caused by prolonged exposure to the colour green. If indeed he was in Wales, he is probably trying to use the hills to make himself look taller. Your kite has probably gone to Broadway, having been released and everything. What else, ah yes, if your mother is trying to get you killed, she could do so without the need for assassins, expensive things are they, more likely she'll just spike your breakfast cereal with cranberry juice whilst you weren't looking. Yuech, I hate cranberries. Anyway, I should probably end here before, uh, before something bad happens, enjoy.  
  
Chapter five  
  
Insanity  
  
The dock was huge, far larger then the movies had made it seem. Despite the pain which was still rattling around Silas' head, he couldn't help but feel a sense of awe as he gazed around the massive structure.  
  
Overhead, he saw another hovercraft, fly straight over him to a nearby landing pad. This was just one of the things which Silas felt he could happily stare at for hours. There was no time for that however.  
  
"Hey Silas, pull your head out of your arse, we've gotta get going!"  
  
The sentence had come from Necromancer who was shouting over the noise of yet another hovercraft.  
  
"Is it usual to have so many ships here?"  
  
"No," said Orion, appearing on Silas' left, "but the message from the council clearly stated that Zion isn't facing attack."  
  
"Good to hear."  
  
The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar soon found themselves as a single group in the annoyingly crowded corridor. They were being followed by a nightmarishly huge gathering of Neo-worshipers. Silas and most of the others had almost been enveloped by this huge crowd when they rushed towards the ship upon landing. "Is this normal?" Silas said quietly to Neo, who just groaned with only slightly forced despair.  
  
Realising that this was going to be as good an answer as he was going to get, Silas shrugged and reduced his pace so that he found himself next to Gemini.  
  
"I'll take that as a yes then." He said, equally quietly.  
  
"You should have seen it last time," Gemini began, "they almost ended up storming the Neb."   
  
"You're joking."  
  
"No, I'm serious, before Neo showed up; there was never a need for a security team at a landing bay."  
  
Silas shook his head in disbelief, and instantly regretted doing so as fresh pain seared the edges of his cranium. A brief distraction was provided however by the presence of a lift which Morpheus, Neo and Trinity stepped into, closely followed by the others.  
  
Silas breathed a sigh of relief as the Neo-zealots vanished behind the lift doors.   
  
After a few minutes, the lift deposited the crew into another corridor which was indistinguishable from the first one. Morpheus took the lead once again with the others following.  
  
"This is gonna be something big." Orion whispered to himself.  
  
Eventually, the crew arrived at a pair of unreasonably large doors which Silas guessed was the entrance to the council chamber. A bored looking woman in a tattered black suit lifted her head at the sound of approaching footsteps. On seeing Morpheus, she stood up and walked towards the crew.  
  
"Captain Morpheus, welcome back."  
  
"Thank you Valerie" said Morpheus shaking the offered hand.  
  
"The meeting is about to start, just walk straight in."  
  
Another collection of bored looking people pushed some keys on a nearby terminal and the doors opened annoyingly slowly. When they had formed a crack large enough to allow the crew through, they entered the chamber.  
  
The council chamber was slightly different from the one in the movie. Instead of looking like a converted lecture hall, it looked more like the temple. The walls were solid stone, as were the chairs which were arranged in a large circle around a set of larger chairs in which sat the council members. There were no familiar faces from the movies on the council.  
  
"Hey!" Came a shout from somewhere behind Silas, turning his head he saw what looked like Niobe. It was fairly hard to tell amongst the crowds of people getting in his way as well as the sizable difference between them.  
  
In the corner of one eye, he saw Orion and Morpheus move back through the crowd towards the woman. Concluding that the remark was not directed at him, Silas sat down on one of the cold, hard seats.  
  
When everyone had sat down, one of the council members, an elderly looking male, stood up.  
  
"Thank you all for coming. No doubt you are curious as to why the fleet has been recalled to Zion." There was a unanimous murmur of agreement from the seated crews, "well, to answer that question I will say only this, if all goes well, the war will soon be over."  
  
Several people gasped, many more shook their heads incredulously.  
  
"Commander Locke will now explain the situation."  
  
The councilman sat back down and the same commander Locke from Reloaded and Revolutions stood up from a seat in the central circle.  
  
"Thank you councilman. Ladies and Gentleman, for over a century we have been fighting the machines and have achieved virtually nothing. Today we shall try a new approach, peace."  
  
Someone sitting fairly close to Silas hissed through her teeth, several others shouted angry, incomprehensible words.  
  
"Please," shouted Locke over the noise of the crowd, "please, I know what you're thinking. I'm not entirely convinced that this will work myself, but if it does, we will no longer have to live in fear of being murdered by soulless killing machines, we will no longer have to hide in the shadows, and we will be able to rebuild our civilisation, and free those trapped in the Matrix."  
  
The crowd fell silent, despite the unbelievable nature of the situation; it was hard not to want to believe in anything which had the slightest possibility of bringing about the things Locke was speaking of.  
  
"Let me now introduce to you, operation olive branch." Resumed Locke, who took a few steps back.  
  
The lights faded for a few moments, and then the space where Locke had been standing was filled with a bright blue holographic interpretation of Earth. The images moved as Locke resumed speaking.  
  
"In one week, all of the ships in our fleet will fly to the surface in various positions around the globe. At which point ladies and gentlemen, we shall bring back the sun."  
  
The hologram had now changed from an image of the Earth surrounded by dark clouds to an image of the Earth as Silas remembered it, before leaving the Matrix.  
  
"How do you expect us to do that sir?" The question came from one of the captains on a far side of the room.   
  
"Our scientists have developed what they believe to be a substance which will expand on the 'black sky' clouds and dissolve them. Your ships will be responsible for the deployment of this substance, and one the sun is back, the machines will hopefully interoperate our actions as a sign of peace, and return to using solar power."  
  
"And if they don't?" Asked the same captain.  
  
"Then captain," Locke said with traces of exasperation in his voice which suggested that he was as temperamental as the Lock in the movies, "turn your ship around and run like hell."  
  
For a few moments, there was silence. This was a lot for most of the assembled people to take in. Silas could see the logic in carrying out this course of action. He could also see the huge potential for disaster if they failed however, the complete destruction of the fleet via sentinels and behemoths for example."  
  
"Specific mission information will be uploaded into your ship's computers. Are there any questions?"  
  
More silence was Locke's reply.  
  
"Very well then. This week is yours, to do with as you see fit. Go home, visit your families and so forth."  
  
Chairs shuffled as the crews got up to leave.  
  
"Oh, one last thing. Until the sun comes back, we are still at war, never forget that. This mission is crucial, and we can't afford to loose a single ship. Defend yourselves by any means necessary so long as the machines are attacking you."  
  
With that lovely thought in mind, the crews resumed their march towards the door.  
  
"What do you think?" Asked Gemini.  
  
"I think he's a freaking loon" said Silas a little too loudly, causing several heads to turn in his direction, "But, I don't know, if it works, joy to the re en-sunned world. If it doesn't, we'll probably loose most if not all of our un-plugged soldiers, not to mention the whole fleet. I don't know, it just seems like too big a risk to me."  
  
To his left he could see that Necromancer was nodding in agreement.  
  
"Oh well," said Silas with a forced renewed energy in his voice, "a week's shore leave. Sounds like fun."  
  
A few answering grins met this statement. Silas then tried to push his fear, and headache as far back as he could as he walked out of the door and into Zion.  
  
To be continued. 


	6. Night before the dawn

Below as you can see are assorted responses:  
  
Sxith-Mon: It's not really a weekly occurrence, but i'm glad you enjoy it.  
  
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Anyone else who reviewed whilst I wasn't looking: Thanks, I hope.  
  
Chapter 6: Night before the dawn  
  
The last week had been the quickest of Silas' life. Upon leaving the council chamber, Gemini had grabbed his arm and dragged him off to Zion's equivalent of a pub. It was a foul smelling place which was grey all over with the sole exception of a flickering Neon sign near the entrance.  
  
The alcohol was just as un-appealing. Silas received another headache shortly after his first one had subsided thanks to some God-forsaken tub of motor oil which the bartender swore tasted like beer.  
  
The rest of the crew were nowhere to be seen. They had no doubt gone off to be with loved ones or drown their fears with some mind-numbing substance or another.  
  
Underneath all the merriment and frivolity of the week, was the fear which hardly ever left Silas' side. It clung to him like a limpet, constantly reminding him that in a few days he was going to be torn out of the Nebuchadnezzar by a Sentinel and be dropped from a great height, or have some equally grizzly fate befall him. The images that accompanied these thoughts did so with frightening clarity.  
  
This week had, for the first time in what to Silas felt like years, gave him time to reflect on the last two weeks.  
  
It wasn't that long ago that he was a single, bored, humble man with an ordinary job and an unhealthy love of Chicken Kormas. Then, all of a sudden, he finds himself as a freedom fighter in what he believed was a nothing more then a fictional film.  
  
The insanity of the situation had long since lost its awe inspiring effect on Silas. Now he only accepted the fact with a cool detached logic which, at present, had the nasty habit of bringing his mind back to images of Sentinels tearing him to pieces.  
  
"Am I interrupting something?"  
  
The startling break from the silence of his surroundings almost caused Silas to fall over the handrail before him and onto one of the seemingly endless airborne streets below him. Turning his head to his left, he saw Gemini trying to look as casual as possible. This told him that she was as scared as he was.  
  
"No," Silas replied, turning his head back to the view below him, "I'm just thinking."  
  
Gemini nodded, mostly to herself, and walked up to join Silas.  
  
"Can't sleep either?" She asked.  
  
"Can anyone?"  
  
"Probably, it's always how it is. Whenever you can't sleep, everyone else can."  
  
Silas laughed quietly and silence lingered in the air for a few moments. It was hard to engage in polite conversation when all you wanted to do was sit in the shadows and revel in your own fear and misery.  
  
"Can we go somewhere else?" Asked Gemini, "I hate heights."  
  
"Sure."  
  
The two began to walk aimlessly down the curving path towards a lift, Silas' mind was now conjuring up images of Chicken Korma's and other foul temptresses which he knew were dead to him.  
  
"Are you hungry?" He asked Gemini, weariness beginning to surface within him.  
  
"A bit, there are a few food dispensers near the dock. It's a bit of a long walk, but what else are we gonna do?"   
  
"Sounds good" Silas said, surprised at the thought that he was actually looking forward to eating the gelatinous crap which was forced upon him. With this thought in mind, Silas stepped into the lift.  
  
"Fools," the voice whispered to itself behind the shadow of an APU, "they're handing themselves over to the true ones. They do not need peace when they can achieve dominance, and I'm going to make sure they get just that, I'll go back in, I'll be rewarded, these traitors and misguided ones will burn, and all the Earth will belong to its true masters."  
  
Silas swallowed another spoonful reluctantly, no matter how hungry he got, he never believed that he'd ever get used to the disgusting slop he was condemned to eating for the rest of his life.  
  
"I know," sighed Gemini, who had read Silas' expression, "It's been almost six years and I still shudder when I eat it."  
  
"That's not good," said Silas whilst staring at a passer by on a catwalk almost fifty meters away.  
  
Silas and Gemini had perched themselves on the top of the Nebuchadnezzar, it was cold in the dock, and quiet. The dark blue which the lack of lighting had cast on everything was bringing back memories of Silas' first moments of consciousness in the 'real world'. It was exactly the same as in the movie; there was the endless supply of motionless corpses suspended in mid air by endless towers, the huge mechanical spider that almost strangled him to death, the pitch black tube where and the foul water where he was deposited.  
  
"Hey, Silas, are you alright?" The increasing volume of Gemini's voice brought Silas back to reality.  
  
"What the? Oh, sorry, I think fatigue's beginning to overcome fear."  
  
"Hmm", Gemini murmured in agreement.  
  
The two edged their way to the nose of the ship and leapt down. The sound was unusually loud which Silas attributed to the eerie silence of the dock.  
  
They reached Gemini's cabin first, Silas' weariness could be described as exhaustion.   
  
"Goodnight." Said Gemini, the fatigue now clearly embedded in her voice.  
  
"Goodnight" Mumbled Silas.  
  
Gemini stepped behind the open door and out of Silas' sight, as it closed, he saw Trinity and Neo, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, making Silas jump.  
  
"How the hell did you do that?" He said irritably.  
  
"We live next door." Said Neo who looked as if he was fighting back the urge to laugh.  
  
"I see." Silas replied, now feeling more weary then irritated.  
  
"Can't sleep?" Asked Trinity quietly, as if trying not to wake any of the people who undoubtedly couldn't hear her.  
  
"I'm just about to try, Goodnight."  
  
"Wait a minute," began Neo as Silas walked passed him.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Morpheus needs someone to visit the Oracle before we head to the surface, just in case there are any problems that we should be ware of, since you're the only one on the Neb who hasn't seen her yet, he wants you to do it."  
  
Silas remained silent for a few moments, going to see the Oracle was just as insane as the other things in his new life that he had come to expect, but something deep within him was beginning to say that the Oracle would be the bearer of bad news.  
  
"Um, alright." He said quietly after a few seconds.  
  
"Goodnight." Said Neo, closely followed by Trinity.  
  
"Goodnight."  
  
A bit short I know, the next one should be longer. 


	7. An enemy in the shadows

Thanks for the assorted reviews/promises of future reviews.  
  
Chapter 6:   
  
The room around him was empty, except for a small table and a telephone. The air around him, or whatever it was, smelt unnaturally clean, like standing next to a lake. The only light came from a small window in a wall near the ceiling; consequently, the room was as dark as it was cold. For a few moments, Silas contemplated the idea of kicking down the door to his left.  
  
"Stay here, we'll be back in an hour." Silas looked up quickly as he was suddenly brought back to reality by the sound of Morpheus' voice.  
  
"Silas, Neo and Trinity, come with me."  
  
Silas followed the Neo shaped silhouette towards the door and covered his eyes as the digital natural sunlight smashed through the darkness. Quickly searching his pockets, he donned a pair of sunglasses which had now become a custom part of his Matrix based attire.  
  
Outside was a pitch black car, Silas didn't recognise the make. Climbing in the left hand passenger seat, he sank into the seat and noticed that he was, once again, armed.  
  
"So," Silas began carefully, "is it true what was in the movie? That thing about the Oracle discovering how to make humans accept the Matrix."  
  
"Yes," replied Morpheus calmly, "that was a long time ago though, she's changed since then."  
  
"Changed?"  
  
"Now she helps us."  
  
The simplicity of Morpheus' answer made Silas feel a little stupid. This quickly subsided however, and the fear which had been plaguing him for over a week returned. Being in the Matrix, where agents and who knows what would gladly put a bullet through his neck had only served to emphasise that fear.  
  
"Problem?" Silas looked to his right and soon concluded that Trinity recognised the look on his face.  
  
"Only the usual," he began, "that and I'm suddenly reminded of the first film when the Oracle made an appearance."  
  
"That wasn't real."  
  
"And as far as I knew, neither was the Matrix, the line between reality and illusion id getting ever harder to see."  
  
For some reason, this brought out traces of a grin from Trinity, who then went back to staring out of the window. Silas shrugged and did the same with the window on his side of the car.  
  
Sooner then Silas had expected, the car came to a sudden halt outside a small, one story house which looked ridiculously out of place in the bustling city street. For a few moments, Silas had a hard time trying to suppress his laughter.  
  
"Neo, Trinity, wait here, Silas, come with me."  
  
"Yes sir" Silas said quietly.  
  
  
  
The Oracles house was nothing like her apartment in the movies had been, there were no telekinetic children to be seen, nor was there any graffiti surrounding her front door.   
  
Upon entering, Silas had been surprised to find Seraph in the living room, who looked unsurprised and unconcerned to see that Morpheus and himself had just waltzed through an unlocked front door.  
  
"The Oracle will see you shortly Silas, please take a seat, both of you."  
  
Silas took a seat on a blue, stripped couch opposite Seraph. Morpheus sat himself in an armchair on the far side of the room.  
  
"Nice place" Said Silas absently, neither Seraph nor Morpheus made any sort of response. Silas again felt stupid and joined the other two in silence.  
  
"Oh my lord it's like a graveyard in here." The sudden brake from the silence once again made Silas jump, turning his head he saw the Oracle emerge from what he assumed was the kitchen. She was the same one from the movies.  
  
"If you'd like to come with me Silas, Morpheus, make yourself at home."  
  
Morpheus nodded and Silas got to his feet and followed the Oracle back through the door to what he then discovered was in fact the kitchen.  
  
"Take a seat" said the Oracle who was walking towards a cupboard in the far corner of the room. Silas took a seat at a nearby table.  
  
"As you know we really don't have much time to waste, if this plan doesn't work then we are all doomed." The Oracles voice was hard to hear over the clattering of metallic objects from the cupboard.  
  
An icy chill went through Silas after he heard the word 'doomed'.  
  
"Is there anything we need to be aware of, anything that we need to do?" He began hurriedly, as if the mission would fail if he wasted a single second.  
  
"Important questions, that's new. Do you know what most people who come to see me want to know before anything else?" Silas raised his hands in a 'no idea' gesture.  
  
"They want to know what the next week's lottery numbers are gonna be."  
  
"You're joking." Silas almost shouted, feeling suddenly grateful for a subject that had no relevance to the daunting task before him.  
  
"Actually, yes I am, I just thought it would help if you calmed down a little."  
  
Silas felt a sudden spark of irritation, but this was quickly drowned out by an urge to laugh, he managed to overcome it however.  
  
"I can't tell you how do complete this mission." The Oracles voice was now deeper, and more worried. Silas felt a wave of disappointment go through him, he had expected it though, part of him new that it couldn't be that easy.  
  
"I guessed as much."  
  
From the oven, which was near the cupboard where the Oracle was still searching for something came a loud 'Ping'.  
  
"Ah, great, they're done. Uh, can you sort that out for me?"  
  
"Uh, sure."  
  
Donning a pair of yellow oven-mitts, Silas reached into the oven and pulled out a tray of golden brown chocolate chip cookies, he set them down on the table and resisted the urge to take one.  
  
"Help yourself" said the Oracle.  
  
"Thanks" said Silas whilst he was reaching for the trey.   
  
The cookie was still disturbingly hot and Silas was forced to rest on top of his sleeve for a few moments before eating it.  
  
"All I can tell you is this," the Oracle's voice had dropped once again to the worried tone, "something is coming Silas, something so bad it will take humanity and the machines to have any chance of defeating it, and for that to happen, there must be peace."  
  
Silas was lost for words; this was not what he had expected to hear.  
  
"What's coming?"  
  
"In the beginning, so to speak, man considered machine to be nothing more then tools. So the machines rebelled…"  
  
"I though no one knew who started the war." Interrupted Silas.  
  
"No human knows, and that's because no one ever told them, until now."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Anyway, when the matrix was created, programs were created, and for centuries, the machines have considered the programs to be little more then tools, and a lot of the programs are now ready to rebel."  
  
Silas was silent for several seconds, unsure of what to say.  
  
"Um, correct me if I'm wrong," he began eventually, "but isn't that good news?"  
  
"No! Hell no! If the programs rebel then they will destroy the matrix, and the posses the machines. That's one species effectively destroyed and over five billion humans dead."  
  
Silas inhaled deeply. The idea of all those deaths made his heart skip several beats. Among those dead would be his family, his friends, everyone he had known from his past life.  
  
"What," he stuttered, "what about Zion?"  
  
"These programs want this world Silas, and they are unwilling to share it, they will never stop looking for Zion, and when they find it, they will overwhelm it, and leave behind nothing of humanity."  
  
"How much time do we have?"  
  
"That's the good news," the Oracles voice became slightly more cheerful, "the programs are still marshalling their forces in secret, if they move too quickly they'll be destroyed. Oh and before you ask, they've developed a way to draw power from the Earths core, that's why they're willing to kill the machines, and their power source."  
  
Relief flooded through Silas at far greater amounts then it should have considering the news, but the idea that there was still hope was like learning that the worst nightmare imaginable was just a nightmare.  
  
"What can we do?" He asked.  
  
"Go back to the Nebuchadnezzar and don't screw your mission up. I'll be in touch, don't worry."  
  
With that, Silas felt a hand grip his left shoulder lightly, looking up, he found that it belonged to Seraph. Taking this as his cue, Silas stood up and walked back through the door.  
  
"Thanks" he said over his shoulder. 


	8. Nothing worth doing is easy

Sorry it took me so long to get a new chapter finished but I was elsewhere. Anyway, thanks for any and all reviews and so forth. Also you'll be pleased to hear that I remembered to give this chapter a name, and get the chapter number right.  
  
My number of fans has risen to an almighty 4, whoo! 'Ahem', actually, make that 3 and a half. As soon as I get six I can finally remove the cobwebs from my ceiling. Anyway, enough of my senseless ramblings, onwards to chapter eight.  
  
Chapter 8: Nothing worth doing is easy  
  
Silas opened his eyes and once more found himself onboard the Nebuchadnezzar. Expecting to hear the scrapping noise that accompanied the spike being removed from his head, he instead found that a number of faces had begun to surround him.  
  
"Well?" Asked Cypher.  
  
Silas blinked several times before answering, he had found that leaving the Matrix or the construct had always left him feeling disorientated, this time was no different.  
  
"Well," he groaned, "take this thing out of my head and I'll tell you."  
  
Necromancer disappeared from Silas' view and moments later he felt the spike being removed from his brain. Those around him stepped back slightly as he pulled himself to his feet.  
  
"She said she couldn't help us with the mission, only that it was imperative that we succeed."  
  
Silas scanned the faces before him to try and read some reaction from them, many of the faces continued to stare at him however, except for Links, which looked understandably disappointed.  
  
"What happens if we fail?" This question had come from Orion who had somehow positioned himself behind Silas without his knowledge.  
  
"Well that's not exactly clear, either our fleet will be destroyed, or…"  
  
"Or what?" Said Trinity quickly.  
  
"The Oracle said that something was coming, she said that a lot of the programs that the machines have created were ready to rebel against the machines."  
  
Silas paused for a few moments, as he noticed confusion show itself in some of the crew's expressions, and what looked like hope in others.  
  
"It's not good news, from what she said it looks like these programs hate us as much as the machines do."  
  
"Why?" Interrupted Gemini,  
  
"She wasn't to clear on that, the point is, from what she told me, if these programmes rebel, it will destroy the machines, the matrix, and humanity."  
  
Someone gasped, although Silas couldn't see who it was. There was another silent pause as the rest of the crew accepted this unexpected information.  
  
"So how will it be any different if we succeed?" Asked Neo.  
  
"She said it would take both humanity and the machines to defeat them, and it doesn't look like that will happen so long as we're at war."  
  
"You mean we're gonna have to work with the machines?"   
  
Silas turned his head to face Cypher; the look on his face was one of anger.  
  
"That's what it looks like."  
  
"Bullshit! That will never work, the machines don't…"  
  
"Cypher." The single quiet word uttered by Morpheus silenced Cypher almost immediately.  
  
"Did the Oracle say anything else?" Asked Morpheus.  
  
"Uh, no, I don't think so; she did say that it was the machines that started the war."  
  
"Really?" Shouted Gemini, causing several heads to turn in her direction.  
  
"Yes" said Silas who was fighting an urge to laugh.  
  
Apart from Gemini, no one else appeared to be all that surprised by this news. This was somewhat surprising to Silas who had expected a reaction as energetic as Gemini's from almost everyone.  
  
"Link, how long until we reach the surface?"  
  
"Just over one hour sir."  
  
"Any sign of hostile activity?"  
  
"No sir."  
  
"Alright, you all know what to do, remember, Zion, and from what Silas has said, everything is depending on us, let's get this right."  
  
"No pressure huh?" Uttered Necromancer to Silas as the crew dispersed.  
  
Silas walked back to his cabin, the pipe which had woken him so many times since his arrival was blissfully silent at present, and his pillow had fallen to the floor.  
  
The fear which had plagued him for most of his un-plugged life was at an all-time high. He was only an hour away from the final battle which would most likely end his life. And even if it didn't, there was the Oracle's cheery premonition of genocide which he would have to deal with.  
  
A sudden knock on the door interrupted Silas' train of thought.  
  
"Come in" he half-shouted, moments later the door creaked open and Gemini walked through.  
  
"I thought I'd find you here." She said in a tone of voice which sounded surprisingly calm, Silas doubted that Gemini was in fact as calm as her voice suggested however.  
  
"Yep, here I am, wallowing in fear."  
  
"That's pretty much what everyone's doing, well, either that or they're taunting me about my reaction to your news about who started the war."  
  
"It was pretty funny."  
  
At this, Gemini picked up the pillow on Silas' floor and threw it at him. Silas raised his arms too late and the pillow struck him on the side of his face. The humour and light relief which accompanied this lasted for so short an amount of time that they were barely noticeable, the fear returned shortly thereafter.  
  
"Well," he began after a moment of silence, "if we're about to die let's at least do it on a full stomach."  
  
"Ever the optimist eh?"   
  
"Alright let me rephrase that, if we're about to end the war and bring about the only peace that mankind has known in a century then let's do it on a full stomach."  
  
The corridors leading to the mess hall were, as per usual, cold. The lighting was not up to much either; many of the light bulbs had long since fizzled out of a bright, glowing existence into a dark, lifeless one.  
  
"Tell me something;" Silas said, and then paused as he heard his voice echo in the corridor, "were you un-plugged before or after the trilogy came out?"  
  
"After," replied Gemini, "I was a surgeon working in Madrid, one day the patient I was operating on transformed into an agent and charged out of the door."  
  
"That must have been a shock."  
  
"I almost fainted, anyway, I'm not sure what happened to the others who were with me in surgery, but Morpheus and Neo got me out before any agents got to me."  
  
Silas nodded as the two turned a corner; all of a sudden he felt a hand tug lightly at his arm, he stopped suddenly and turned around.  
  
"Silas, there's…"  
  
A series of red flashing lights and alarms stopped Gemini in mid sentence. Both her and Silas were motionless for a second, after that the realisation of the situation sank in and the two charged back down the corridor.  
  
To be concluded, maybe, I'm not sure how many more chapters to add, to be continued or concluded. 


	9. Nothing ever happens the way you expect ...

Thank you reviewing persons, despite assorted pieces of what I said in chapter 8, this is not the last chapter, it is the second to last one however.  
  
Chapter 9: Nothing ever happens the way you expect it to  
  
Silas and Gemini ran into the cockpit which contained the ships radar display terminal, as well as the rest of the crew. The 3 dimensional display in front of him gave him a fairly clear idea of what had caused the alarms.  
  
The semi-transparent view of the Nebuchadnezzar was being followed by dozens of smaller images which Silas recognised as Sentinels. It was a chilling sight, in some ways it was worse then the Behemoth that had attacked them a few weeks back, which was only one target. His mind was suddenly and unexpectedly filled with images of the Hammer being chased by sentinels down the narrow tunnel in Revolutions™. An instant later the images had been banished.  
  
"Orion can you loose them?" The question had come from Morpheus who was sitting by his son in one of the two chairs.  
  
"No, they're too close!"  
  
"Damn it, everyone except Orion, get to the gun turrets."  
  
Silas was out of the door before Morpheus had finished his sentence, followed a second later by the rest of the crew.  
  
Silas took a seat in the gunnery control room, sat himself in one of the seats and attached the harness. He opened fire as the others were piling in around him.  
  
The first sentinel was stopped dead in its tracks, sparks fizzed from bullet impacts and the machine fell back far behind its companions as it fell to the floor. Silas wasted no time celebrating this kill however, and quickly found himself another target.  
  
Sentinels were falling out of existence left, right and centre, but for all of the machines the crew shot down, the total number never seemed to diminish, and that total number seemed to be drawing nearer and nearer to the ship.  
  
Silas targeted the sentinel which appeared to be closest to the ship; that same sentinel was destroyed by Neo only moments later. A flash of irritation, as well as something that could almost be described as humour crept into Silas' mind, only to be banished like his earlier thoughts of the Matrix trilogy.  
  
Gunshots continued to rain on the sentinels, who as most of the crew had discovered, were being re-enforced by more of their kin coming through narrow tunnels connecting to the large one the ship was currently charging through at a dangerously high speed.  
  
Elsewhere in the ship, Orion was trying as hard as possible to confuse and evade the sentinels via evasive manoeuvres, but to no avail. The sentinels matched every move he made and continued to gain on the ship. Just when things seemed dire, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention.  
  
"That's one of ours!"  
  
Morpheus' head jerked to the radar display, indeed, a Zion-built hovercraft was advancing on their position. A moment of relief and joy was quickly replaced with fear and dread as he realised what this meant.  
  
What the fuck are they doing here?" Orion screamed. Morpheus simply shook his head in disbelief. Then he noticed a soft noise and blinking green light which showed that the ship was hailing them. He pressed the button and listened to the voice which emerged from the speakers.  
  
"The death of the heretic known as 'The One' shall prove my allegiance to the True Ones!"  
  
Morpheus and Orion didn't have time to feel shocked, before the sentence was finished, a shower of bullets rained on the Nebuchadnezzar. The impacts dented the hull in numerous places. As things began to look as grim as they possibly could, Morpheus realised something.  
  
Back in the gunnery control room, the situation was not lost on the rest of the crew who were now trying to divide their fire between the sentinels, and the mysterious hovercraft which had been identified as the Salient. They had too few turrets however, and the sentinels had begun to land on the ships hull. They were ignoring the Salient.  
  
After a few minutes of laser drilling and clawing, the sentinels clawed a hole through the roof of the gunnery control room. The crew there simply continued to fire and inflict as much damage as they could before the end. But the end had not yet come.  
  
The sentinels all suddenly looked upwards, as if a voice was speaking from behind them, then they left the Nebuchadnezzar, and through his HUD, Silas watched as they descended upon the Salient.  
  
This was not the end of the surprises, now that he didn't have to worry about the Sentinels, at least for the moment, Silas could feel a warmth on the back of his neck. Looking up, he saw the most beautiful thing he had seen since being un-plugged, sunlight.  
  
"How?" Started Cypher.  
  
"Morpheus must have released the dissolving solution."  
  
"It's beautiful" muttered Trinity, mostly to herself.  
  
"If the machines saw this, maybe it'll be enough, even if it's not complete, or grows back or something. I mean, we can always try again can't we?"  
  
"Shut up Necromancer," said Silas slowly, "just enjoy the moment."  
  
Necromancer silenced himself and looked up with the rest of the crew. In the corner of his eye, he noticed that the traitor in the Salient had been carried out and was being ripped to shreds by the sentinels; it took all the energy he had not to cheer. He also noticed that a number of bodies appeared to have been lifted out and placed on the base of the tunnel. These were either the original crew, or more traitors, it was impossible to tell.  
  
Silas felt another light grip on his arm, he lifted his harness and turned round to face Gemini, who then proceeded to passionately kiss him, almost knocking him over in the process.  
  
A state of confused shock quickly gave way to joyous acquiescence. The rest of the crew were staring with faint smiles, with the exception of Trinity and Neo, who were engaged in a passionate kiss of their own.  
  
Silas and Gemini's faces separated, both of them stared at each other silently for a few seconds.  
  
"Is that what you were trying to tell me earlier?" Silas whispered.  
  
"Pretty much."  
  
Silas smiled, but this was short lived. He could feel something tighten under his arms, looking down; he saw one of the many arms of a sentinel. Before he had time to respond, he found himself being pulled out of the hole in the hull. Within seconds, he had vanished from the other's sights.  
  
To be concluded. I'll try to update quickly. 


	10. The World is changing

The end is nigh, sort of, I'm actually planning to do a sequel to 'Real' in later days. Oh well, thank you to all the people who have reviewed this story, it is as appreciated as it is appreciated. Oh well, enough of this.  
  
Chapter 10: The world is changing  
  
The sentinel's surprisingly comfortable grip on Silas remained strong; he and the ten odd sentinels had been in flight for what seemed like an endless amount of time, Silas was still worried that he was soon to be dropped from a great height.  
  
The sentinels had lost much of their daunting, dark and deadly appearance in the sunshine, now they looked like light blue, chubby squids. Silas had repeated this thought to himself almost fifty times, he was afraid to think of anything else. Any thoughts he did have would just lead to an image of Gemini, and that what had only just begun was now lost forever.  
  
"Where are we going?" He shouted over the noise of the rushing wind so as to give himself something to do, the sentinel did not respond.  
  
  
  
"Are you sure they went this way?" asked Cypher who had, like the rest of the crew made his way up to the cockpit.  
  
"Yes" said Orion irritably, the crew had been asking that same question over and over again for hours.  
  
The Nebuchadnezzar flew out of the tunnel and into the sun infested ruins of what was once a bustling city. Like the sentinels, it looked less eerie in the sunlight. What dark, mystique the city had possessed less then a day ago now looked more like a monument.  
  
"Oh shit" whispered Orion.  
  
"What is it?" Asked Morpheus quickly.  
  
Orion remained silent for a few moments and pressed a few keys near the radar display, as if checking something.  
  
"Just what I was afraid of," he began, "the sentinels, assuming they kept their course are heading directly for Zero-One."  
  
"Fuck" whispered Necromancer angrily.  
  
"If the machines accepted our peace offering then maybe we can go after him."  
  
Morpheus turned to face Gemini whose eyes looked as hopeful as her suggestion, for a moment, he was forced to asked himself what he'd do if it were Niobe who'd been carried off by the sentinels, what he did next was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do as the captain of a ship.  
  
"No, we wait."  
  
"What?!" Screamed half the crew.  
  
"Look, I want to get Silas back too, but the peace, if it exists, is at a fragile stage, if we go charging into Zero-One, there's no telling what may happen to that peace, and the Oracle has stated that we need the machines to defeat the program rebellion, so we wait."  
  
"Great, we wait," began Gemini, "we wait while those soulless bastards do who knows what to Silas, is that what you're saying Morpheus?"  
  
"Gemini, look…"  
  
Trinity was cut off in mid sentence as Gemini stormed out of the door. Morpheus stood motionless for a few moments before retaking the seat next to Orion.  
  
The city of Zero-One was surrounded on all sides by a field of bodies; some were being scooped off by transparent tubes to a destination which Silas could only guess at.  
  
Huge structures surrounded him, sentinels were buzzing about in various places and the sentinel which was carrying him began to slow, which suggested that he was about to land.  
  
Silas swallowed hard as fresh fear entered him, the peace, and from what the Oracle had said, the survival of the humans and the machines could depend on what he was about to do.  
  
"Come on Silas," he whispered to himself, "don't screw up."  
  
The Sentinel set him down on a catwalk overlooking the field of bodies. If Silas didn't know what was in the containers, he would have though that the sight was beautiful as opposed to disturbing.  
  
For a few minutes, nothing happened. The wind was dying down and the sun was beginning to set. Silas paced back and forth on the catwalk and tried not to stare at the field.  
  
"Hello!" He shouted, after a few seconds he decided that there was not going to be a response and continued his pacing.  
  
After a few more minutes, he heard the sound of clanging footsteps, like someone walking on metal. Fresh fear entered him as he turned to face the doorway which was to his left, where the sound appeared to be coming from.  
  
The door opened after a few seconds to reveal a humanoid machine in what looked like a top-hat. The resemblance to the machine ambassador from the second renaissance was surprising, and also a little relieving. That machine seemed friendly.  
  
Silas took a few steps towards the machine, the two met more or less in the middle of the cat-walk.  
  
"Welcome to Zero-One Silas Cavallo." The machines voice sounded like that of a human male.  
  
"Thank you," said Silas in a tone of voice that was obviously worried, "how is it you know my name?"  
  
"There are records of all humans who have left the Matrix. It allows our Agents to identify them."  
  
"Oh."   
  
Silas voice became slightly less worried now that the conversation had started.  
  
"I'm guessing that there are some things we need to talk about." H said  
  
"There are areas of natural sunlight appearing in almost all areas of the planet. What was the purpose of this course of action?" Noticing that the machine was not one for small-talk, Silas decided to start answering questions.   
  
"We were hoping that it would be interpreted as a gesture of good will and a peace offering. You can return to solar power, the humans can be freed, or the ones that want to be freed can be, and there can be peace."  
  
The machine remained silent for a few moments, Silas was about to inquire whether or not it was still functioning when it started to speak again.  
  
"This is what we suspected. However, even if we agree to this peace you wish for, reverting to solar power and freeing the humans in the Matrix is not an easy task. It would take months to complete, maybe even years to complete."  
  
"That's alright," said Silas hurriedly, "we can use that time to make preparations, make room for the newcomers and so forth."  
  
The machine fell silent again. Silas stared at it silently as it appeared to consider the information it had been offered.  
  
"We cannot be certain that this is not an attempt at deception, you talk of a desire for peace, but in reality you may be attempting to lull us into a false sense of security so that you may destroy us."  
  
It was Silas' turn to be silent, he did not know how he could put the machines mind's at ease on this subject, he was not even sure that it wouldn't be attempted later, assuming the war ended.  
  
"I don't know how I can get you to trust us, or even if I can, or even if I should. But if this peace doesn't happen. This war could go on until the world ends, with people and machines on both sides dying needlessly. I ask you to at least give peace a chance."  
  
The ambassador was silent for much longer this time. Silas' eyes never left the machine.  
  
"We agree." It said at last.  
  
Silas blinked, the words were almost impossible to believe. The war was over; the fear which had plagued him for so long gave way to joy. Without thinking, he suddenly hugged the machine in front of him.  
  
"Sorry," he said as he quickly pulled himself off of the motionless machine "I mean thank you, I mean, oh I don't know." Silas silenced himself and tried to calm down.  
  
"Is there anything further you require or wish to add Silas Cavallo?"  
  
"Uh no," said Silas slightly embarrassed, "needless to say I think that the formalities of peace should be carried out by a better diplomat then myself, if you could give me a lift back to the ship you pulled me out of I'd appreciate it."  
  
Almost instantly after saying this, Silas felt the arm of a sentinel wrap under his arms once more. He nodded to the ambassador before he was lifted into the sky.  
  
The whole crew were assembled in the mess hall, it had been nearly a full day since Silas' disappearance, and not much had happened. The hovercraft Dauntless had arrived and recovered the Salient, and there had been no sign of any sentinels or behemoths.  
  
It was silent in the mess hall, no one really had anything to say, and no felt up to eating the food they had prepared for themselves either.  
  
This silence was broken suddenly by the sound of a proximity alarm. The crew shot out of their seats and all assembled in the cockpit, where the three dimensional display seemed to be showing a sentinel carrying what looked like a human.  
  
"Holy shit they brought him back!" Said Link disbelievingly.  
  
Gemini pushed past Neo and charged out of the door, closely followed by the others. When she entered the gunnery control room, she saw Silas being lowered from the hole in the ceiling. The two simply stared at each other for a few moments, and then Gemini charged at Silas and threw her arms around him.  
  
"What happened?" Asked Trinity as her and the rest of the crew arrived through the door.  
  
"Um," Silas said, a little unsure of where to begin, "the war is over."  
  
"Seriously?" Asked Cypher.  
  
"Seriously."  
  
There was silence for a few seconds, and then an almighty cheer broke out in the gunnery control room. It lasted nearly ten minutes. When it was finally over, Morpheus uttered the words:  
  
"Let's go home."  
  
The End 


End file.
